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Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Oklahoma City Grows, Tulsa Shrinks, Census Shows

Downtown Tulsa

From www.tulsaworld.com ~ Tulsa's population has fallen while the outlying suburban areas and Oklahoma City have grown between 15 percent and 57 percent since 2000, according to U.S. Census Bureau data released Tuesday.

The data released Tuesday provide the first look at population counts for small areas and race, Hispanic origin, voting age and housing unit data released from the 2010 Census.

Oklahoma City remained the state's largest city, with a 15 percent increase in the past decade with a current population of 579,000 residents.

Tulsa is the second-largest city with 391,906 residents, but the population has fallen by .3 percent since 2000.

Cities surrounding Tulsa show significant gains, including Broken Arrow as the state's third-largest city with 98,850 residents -- a 32 percent growth. Bixby has the highest growth at 57 percent, moving into the state's 20th-largest city with 20,884 residents.

The largest county is Oklahoma with a population of 718,633. Its population grew by 8.8 percent since 2000.

The other counties in the top five include Tulsa, with a population of 603,403 (increase of 7.1 percent); Cleveland, 255,755 (increase of 22.9 percent); Comanche, 124,098 (increase of 7.9 percent); and Canadian, 115,541 (increase of 31.8 percent).

The data released today can be used to redraw federal, state and local legislative districts. The census data are used by state officials to realign congressional and state legislative districts in their state, taking into account population shifts since the 2000 Census. The census bureau in December released population figures for each state.

Oklahoma’s population in April 2010 was 3,751,351 as determined by the Census. Since 2000, the population in Oklahoma increased 8.7 percent. The Hispanic population, which can be of any race, grew by 85 percent statewide and 97 percent in the city of Tulsa.

Officials will strive to reapportion state Senate districts so that the population in each region is 78,153 people.

The target population for the redrawn state House districts will be 37,142. Final populations can be within 5 percent of the target and still be legal, officials have said.